ALDS Game Three Thread: Angels @ Red Sox

After scoring just one run and putting only 12 runners on base in the first 18 innings of the series, the Red Sox returned home to Fenway down 0-2 in the best-of-five ALDS to those pesky Angels. Boston posted the second best home record in baseball this year (behind the Yanks, of course), so coming back East could be just what the doctor ordered. Clay Buchholz (7-4, 4.21) will face off with Scott Kazmir (10-9, 4.89), who is certainly no stranger to the Fens. First pitch is scheduled for just after noon ET, TBS will have the broadcast. Feel free to chat about the game here.

i don’t get it. Is it that Kazmir throws faster with the Angels than with the Rays?

Zack

hinting about motivation/dogging it? or just that hes healthier?

http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa

I don’t know what it means, but he’s throwing harder now than he did early this year, or even last year.

Reggie C.

I guess elbow soreness is sometimes just elbow soreness. We’re all so scared shitless over pitcher arm troubles (as we should be) that many of us think worst case scenario. Kaz needs to be overpowering today.

Zack

Well he’s had the elbow soreness for what 3 years in a row? thats a huge red flag

No. No it’s not. It is not Taco Bellsbury’s second spectacular catch in this series. The first ‘diving’ catch in game one was him slowing down, catching it leaning, and then sliding on the ground. So frustrating when people overreact to ordinary catches.

Zack

that just leads to people saying hes a great defensive CF, when he’s really on of the worst this year.

Reggie C.

Bradshaw = new Goal line RB

j/k

http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa

Dammit. I started him the last three weeks and fantasy and he gave me little compared to the guys I had on the bench. I sit him this week, and he decides to find the endzone.

Reggie C.

He’s found it twice now … Bradshaw looks like he could reach 100 rush yards before half time.

Tampa Yankee

The guy I’m playing hasn’t started him all year, and now he does… WTF!

Reggie C.

This FOX gun has got to be juiced a tad. Buchholz hitting 97?

Tom Zig

aren’t all network guns juiced?

The YES gun is just wholly inaccurate. I remember one time it had CC at like 67mph for one of his pitches.

Love to see Bard carve himself out a very different legend right here.

Mike Pop

The legend of teh heat!

whozat

True

Rivera’s bat looked like it was starting to crack already when they did that closeup on him earlier in the at bat and, even if it wasn’t, that bat was REALLY dinged up. Maybe you shoulda grabbed some better lumber, Juan.

Jersey

Really? That’s pretty dumb he didn’t switch bats.

whozat

The bat looked really, really used, like a BP bat maybe. 20-some-odd dings in it, and I could’ve sworn I saw a lengthwise crack in it. I might’ve been wrong, though.

mustang

Damn

Mike Pop

Good job by Bard.

Jersey

Gotta tip the cap. That DP was huge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siYKRL4I3UA JobaWockeeZ

I love how overrated the Angel’s speed is currently.

Reggie C.

This is alittle early for David Carr …

Big spot for Carr who needs some game reel to land somewhere else next season for more money.

Mike Pop

The Giants are a dominate football team.

Eli has that heel pain right? No big deal imo. Eli is a phenomenal quarterback, you guys are fine.

Unfortunately.

Jeter’s Ford Edge

Why do some of you guys want the Sox to win so badly?

http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa

Stretch this series, tire them out. I don’t care who wins, but I’d rather not see the Angels win in three relatively easy games.

Dela G

+eleventy billion

whozat

We want the series to go longer, to have these teams fly back to california AGAIN, to make guys throw on short rest, etc.

ClayBuchholzLovesLaptops

This.

The series going to 5 games means those two teams having to go to California and flying back to NY for game 1 of the ALCS.

mustang

It doesn’t matter Eli, Carr, even Romo.

mustang

Well maybe not Romo..LOL

Mike Pop

You’re funny.

Jersey

even Romo

You so krazy!!!

Reggie C.

hilarious !

aj

I think I’d rather face the Red Sox, but I don’t them to get hot and come back with all this momentum.

I can’t believe they’re gonna make Oakland play another 30 minutes against this team.

Jersey

reply fail

Mike Pop

Bard is really good.

http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa

Except against teams that can handle quality fastballs, like the Yankees.

AndrewYF

This is why I’d rather the Yankees face the Angels.

Reggie C.

+ 1 + 1 + 1

whozat

Bard is really good throws really hard.

Salty Buggah

K-Rob is better

Jersey

I can’t believe they’re gonna make Oakland play another 30 minutes against this team.

mustang

Just let the back- ups play and hope no one gets hurt.

GO KC

Salty Buggah

Lombardi is dick.

So some guy posted on his blog about how A-rod faces the media no matter what but Pujols left yesterday after going only 3-10 in the sweep. However, then Steve later adds on:

Well, back in August, we did have this report to share from Tyler Kepner:

[Alex] Rodriguez is a ghost in the clubhouse, at home and on the road, especially before games. He limits his availability almost exclusively to brief sessions with a group after games in which he has made an impact, good or bad. He does almost no one-on-one interviews, and nobody questions the rules.

But, to MJ’s point…this refers to the regular season and not the post-season.

Fucker

AndrewYF

Look, everyone knows not to take Lombardi seriously. Let’s not clutter game threads with his garbage, or criticisms of his garbage.

Salty Buggah

Yea, my bad. I just hate that guy.

ClayBuchholzLovesLaptops

Would that be called an infield-double?

Reggie C.

Raiders D-line is tightening up. Too. Late.

Salty Buggah

cmon Kendry 3 run HR

Salty Buggah

damn

Jersey

No Papelbon here?

Jersey

There he is.

whozat

I love how Martinez is all over Pedroia’s jock for making a play that any fundamentally solid 2B makes. Oh! He had so much GRIT to get in front of an easy grounder! He just WILLED himself to throw out the lead-footed Kendry Morales!

Well, I certainly wouldn’t mind if that happened but I’d like the Angels and Sox to tear at each other for longer, knowing the Yanks are waiting.

Salty Buggah

I want both of you right. Pap blows the lead. Sox win in 19

ClayBuchholzLovesLaptops

+19

Salty Buggah

Angels win. My bad.

mustang

Agree. And lets get there before worry about how much rest the Angels and Sox would get.

mustang

let them blow it in the 9th that’s even more painful

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0awG8jw7Ax5xR/610x.jpg Drew

I wish Manny was still there to smack Youkilis in the face.

Jeter’s Ford Edge

I didn’t know Jepsen thew that fast.

Andy in Sunny Daytona

I would say that this radar gun is about 3 mph fast.

whozat

Then Gameday is too. I checked.

Andy in Sunny Daytona

I guess gameday is infallible.

whozat

I didn’t say that. However, what’s more likely? That two, separate radar guns run by different organizations are similarly miscalibrated, or that you’re wrong?

Andy in Sunny Daytona

What makes you think that they are two separate radar guns?

whozat

…because in pretty much every game I’ve watched all season, whether on ESPN, YES, MY9, or whatever channel it is that the Giants are on out here, the guns have read differently on gameday and on TV. I’m pretty sure gameday is driven off the pitchfx data, and the in-game TV radar gun is not.

Andy in Sunny Daytona

I hear ya, but the way TBS broadcasts have gone, I think there is absolutely no reason why they wouldn’t piggyback gameday’s data.

Touche…but in the end Darth Vader revealed that he truly did have some good left in him…I have absolutely no idea how that translates to the Red Sox/Yankees, but I thought I’d point it out anyway.

JMK aka The Overshare

You have other choices. You could convert your allegiance to the greatest sports franchise of all time. You could also simply root for an NL team. You could take up a new hobby, like baking or something (sorry, pussy tubing is off limits). Enjoy your off-season!

Whitey14

Would you be referring to the Boston Celtics, or Montreal Canadiens, both of whom have won a greater percentage of their league’s championships than your Yankees?
(They only qualify as the greatest Baseball franchise of all time, sorry ;-)

NL baseball just isn’t as good ;-)

I do have other hobbies: Playing Softball, Strat-o-matic Baseball, and spending time with the family, for which there is never an offseason, thankfully :-)

Andy in Sunny Daytona

Now we have to go by percentage? What about the Houston Comets?

Whitey14

Damn, you’ve got me there Andy.

I guess this one is for each person to decide for themselves. I’ve always wondered why the guy with the best batting average wins the batting title instead of the guy with the most hits, but the guy with the most home runs wins the home run crown instead of the guy with the best HR/AB ratio…beats the hell out of me!

Andy in Sunny Daytona

Papelbon at the press conference; “I got 3 outs!” then dances a jig.

aj

Between the Red Sox throwing at hitters and storming the mound (Starting fights) and Minnesota stealing signs and not running in the baseline, I’d say they both got what they deserved.

http://www.twitter.com/shaked RichYF

Where’s Lucky? He told me this series had a predetermined outcome. I don’t understand what’s happening…

SOSH thinks that Papelbon is actually a very tradeable commodity. They seem to forget that he’s making in excess of $7 million in arbitration. There are very few teams who would even want Papelbon, much less give up actual value for him.

Steve H

There are a ton of teams that would take him at $7 million for 1 year. Look at what the Angels are paying Fuentes, who is 1/100th of the pitcher Papsmear is.

JMK aka The Overshare

Agreed.

AndrewYF

Name ’em. And he has two more years of arbitration.

JFH

Someone should ask Dan Shaughnessy if the Sox are showing all their cards yet.

No Shaugnessy’s right; they’re still laying in the weeds. They’re going to have a few more weeks of rest than the Yanks come April.

thurdonpaul

lolol , ietc,how sneaky of them

Reggie C.

HILARIOUS !

i totally remember that article. cant wait to see his perm doo on his video blog.

GG

the angels are going to be a tough matchup

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0awG8jw7Ax5xR/610x.jpg Drew

Yepp. It should be, the two best teams in the league will go at it in the ALCS.

MikeD

Totally. As much as I like to see the Sox lose, and in the embarassing way they lost, I also know the Angels are a tougher match-up for the Yankees than the Sox (that’s if the Yankees get one more win in the next three, and I don’t on anything until it’s done.)

Pitching five innings and loading the bases in the sixth without getting an out?

If Joba had a start like that, there’s be Yankees fans aplenty screaming that he needs to be in the pen.

All told, it was actually a perfectly acceptable start, but not “good”

ClayBuchholzLovesLaptops

Fine, then “good” wasn’t the right word. He at least went 3-for-5 stealing laptops from the science lab, you have to count that, right?

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0awG8jw7Ax5xR/610x.jpg Drew

Today Buchholz only went 5+. Lester didn’t pitch a great game, he walked 4. He kind of fell apart towards the end of the season for whatever reason. Beckett was not his usual post-season self. Their hitters absolutely disappeared but their starters are not absolved from criticism.

JMK aka The Overshare

I’m not saying the starters should be absolved from criticism, but of all the aspects of the team, they were probably the best, and even then, they were merely okay-to-good. But really, their hitting was awful, the bullpen wasn’t very good, and defense was poor. That’s why they lost, not the starting pitching.

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0awG8jw7Ax5xR/610x.jpg Drew

Bottom line, their Grit Tank was empty. To avoid this next year, Tacoby Bellsbury will grow a Grit Beard.

Chris

Somewhere, Peter Gammons is adjusting a noose…

Andy in Sunny Daytona

…while drooling…

Ivan

Well how much times were gonna hear “Angels have own the yanks” or “The yanks have never beaten the Angels” and stuff.

aj

until the ALCS is over. If the yanks can slay the angels, that talk is over.

thurdonpaul

excuse me, but i think you meant: WHEN the yanks slay the angels, that talk is over

And, a largely over-performing Angels team (according to all of BP’s adjusted standings) sweeping a slightly over-performing Red Sox team means a severe correction when they arrive in the Bronx.

Or, as TSJC says…

WE.
WILL.
NOT.
BE.
STOPPED.

Alex S

the Angles will be the toughest test for the Yankees this year, i don’t care who makes it to the WS in the NL. Dodgers or Phillies/Rockies I believe the Yankees can beat any of those teams but the Angels are always sooo tough to beat for the yanks for some reason. don’t get me wrong i think the yankees can and will beat the angels but they’re always tough

papelbon is in steep decline
fire francona
beckett is NOT an ace
lester sucked when it counted
fire theo for trading for wagner, who sucks in the playoffs
obviously buchholz belongs in the 8th
worst LF/CF defense ever
youk batted .083, UNCLUTCH!

/if people viewed the sox as they do the yankees

Reggie C.

The Hanley Ramirez rumors are going to explode within 24 hours. Remember people … its just gonna be knee-jerk rumors.

mustang

I can’t stop watching the highlights on MLB network.

Zack

+1

i’m going to watch first take tomorrow, around the horn, pti, 1st and 10, and listen to weei and just enjoy the panic and/or excuses